Stewart to take over Snyder baseball program

When longtime Snyder baseball coach Charles Bollinger left the school to take over the program at Denison last month, Snyder athletic director Aubrey Sims watched his inbox pile up with interest in the job from coaches around the state.

After a three-week search that included almost a dozen interviews, Sims determined that the right man to lead the long successful program was here in West Texas.

Sims on Tuesday offered the vacant position to Shane Stewart, who accepted the same day. Stewart spent the last eight years at Roosevelt.

“We’re definitely very excited,” Stewart said. “Snyder has a very rich tradition in baseball. When Coach Bollinger left for Denison, it was something we looked at and thought would be a wonderful place to follow in the success that he’s had.”

Snyder was a perennial playoff team under Bollinger, who compiled a 228-113 record in 10 seasons and won three district titles.

Stewart hasn’t had much time to look over Snyder’s returning roster, but he said he knows the team will return plenty of talent that he is excited to work with.

“They have been in the playoffs so many years and have had so much success,” Stewart said, “and I would love to come in and continue that tradition. Moving up to 3A, there are some things I’m going to have learn on the run, but with what we have coming back and the talent that continues to come through the program, we believe we can compete at the state level.”

Sims, who took over as Snyder’s football coach and athletic director when Chad Rogers left for the same position at Denison in March, said the feedback he got on Stewart was hard to ignore.

“What just stood out was just the character that Shane has,” Sims said, “knowing he is going to continue to instill work ethic into these kids. Being new to the area (Sims came to Snyder from Grandview), I spoke to a lot of people for references, and all of them had nothing but great things to say about Shane.”

Stewart posted a 122-91 record during his eight seasons at Roosevelt. While looking forward to a new coaching opportunity, he said he will miss the relationships he built with players and their families during a near-decade run at the program.

“It’s been such a wonderful experience,” Stewart said. “When we first came here eight years ago, we didn’t know how long we would stay. But the whole time we were here, the community did nothing but embrace and support us.”

Stewart cut his teeth in the high school coaching world under Hall of Fame coach Bobby Moegle. Stewart’s first season as a volunteer coach at Monterey was Moegle’s final year in charge of the Plainsmen.

“He was a legendary coach who knew the game and had a passion for it,” Stewart said. “What was amazing to me is that none of those players ever wanted to disappoint him because they had so much respect for him.”